Paradox Effect
by phantasmal-wanderer
Summary: What shouldn't happen did happen. The what if's and if's are blending into reality. Time itself is being bent and contorted into nothing...And the only thing that could save it? Well...Let's pray that it isn't that naive and overly-confident Danny Phantom...


**A/N: Alright, so this story takes place after PP. The first part of the story takes place a year prior to the part where Danny comes in. Messing with the time stream can really hurt your head. Also, to point out, this story contains OC's. Mostly Lisanna and Paradox (hence the name 'Paradox Effect'). Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

"First and foremost, I would like to thank all of you that are graduating this year. Your constant ghost training and education is what brought all of you this far", the headmaster said into the microphone. The graduating class all looked at him in eager. The graduation was taking place outside, the large impenetrable ghost shield was clear, and looked to be a giant glass dome. "Now, Ms. Whitney will take over from here and present all the graduating class members. Once again, with great honor, thank you", the headmaster said finally, before adjusting his tie and then stepped off the stage.

Everyone clapped and soon, a woman with blonde curly hair walked on stage. She smiled gently and all the people there. She then cleared her voice and placed her body a tad bit closer to the microphone. "Hello, class of 4012, you have all done so much to get to where you are today. Now, without further delay, I shall be presenting the graduating class of 4012."

Everyone clapped again, and then all was quiet. Ms. Whitney smiled again and picked up a sheet that had a decent amount of names on the list. She began to read them off one by one. Each selected person going onto the stage to shake hands with the most well-known ghost hunter in the world.

"Gavin Elliot", she said as she said the next name on her list. A teenage boy with blonde hair stood up from his seat and started to walk onto the stage.

"Lisanna Fenton", the woman said with a smile, the girl with white hair and a blue streak going across her hair stood up. She had green eyes and calmly walked up to the stage. 'Finally, finally, after all this time, I'll finally be a respected ghost hunter…' The girl thought as she smiled a little. Her eyes were gleaming with happiness.

She was less than five feet away from the stage, when something strange happened. Some kind of portal opened up, it was of different colors, and had television static coming from it. Everyone was alerted of this new occurrence, and the graduation ceremony was suspended for the time being. Almost immediately Ms. Whitney reached for her gun that was on her left holster on her leg. However, before she could take it out, a light blue beam shot out at her. Her eyes grew wide with surprise and she couldn't dodge out of the way. She flew to where the graduates were sitting, and something cracked that echoed through the area.

"Ms. Whitney!" Lisanna cried out, and then she started to run to her. Her, long white hair that was up in a high ponytail bobbed behind her.

"Lisa, you have to run…I can handle this…" She managed to spit out in between breaths.

"No, I can't just leave you like this!" The girl said defiantly as she stood in front of the downed woman before she reached for her gun and aimed it at the mysterious villain.

"Well, isn't this a surprise? I never would have imagined that a competent ghost hunter would be so easy to…kill", he said, a slight purr to his voice, taking amusement and glee in his actions. He had spikey black hair that defied gravity as it stuck straight up in the air. On his face, he was wearing a black goatee. His amber eyes narrowed at the person that stood before him before he cackled hoarsely, making all those around him cringe.

"That's just too cute…a girl stands to oppose me…" He said as he began to walk towards Lisanna, who started to tremble, and as a result, her gun started to shake and began to be unsteady. He was wearing protective armor like knights used to wear, and a long black flowing cape behind him.

"Lisanna…Go", the woman said shakily behind the girl. She tried to get herself up, but then she howled in pain.

"But...!" She yelled in response as she looked behind her to address the woman. At that moment, the man immediately teleported in front of her at an inhuman speed. Startled, the girl took a step back before she was smacked in the side at an alarming force. She was flung across the courtyard and landed harshly on the ground before rolling a few times.

"Lisanna!" She yelled as she reached out her arm out of reflex towards the injured girl.

"What a rude girl, she really shouldn't turn her back at an ongoing conversation…Wouldn't you agree?" The man said before he smirked down at the woman.

"Got to hell", Whitney said as she glared daggers into the man, this only caused him to go into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"452…That's how many times I've heard that phrase…Try and be a little bit more creative than that, hmm?" He said as he raised his foot in suspense over the defenseless woman. He looked around the area before narrowing his eyes at the crowd he was gathering.

"I…" he paused for dramatic effect, "Am going to kill this woman. Let this mark the dawn of a war. Ghosts may be scarce, but they are strong. They will rise, and I, Paradox, will reign supreme over this desolate and hopeless world!"

"I won't let you!" Yelled a girl's voice as Paradox was knocked away from Whitney before he could release his foot. Furious, Paradox's amber eyes released fire through them. He then turned and saw something that genuinely surprised him. The girl he had knocked out was conscious, and her eyes were glowing a vibrant neon green color and her hand was raised at him…It was giving off hints of black ectoplasm.

"Well…I wasn't expecting this…The last of the Fenton bloodline…And here I thought I killed the last of them 15 years ago…" Paradox said as he started to laugh once again at the irony of this situation.

"Lisanna! You promised to never use your powers!" Whitney yelled in anger. However, her anger was short lived because she then began to cough up blood.

"You protected her from me, did you, Whitney?" Paradox said with amusement as he stood up. He brushed off the dirt that he had accumulated when he fell to the ground. "I can see why, she is the strongest of her kind…And this makes me very curious…"

"Stay away from her!" The woman yelled, and again, she spat up blood.

"Whitney!" Lisanna yelled as she started to run to her mentor. However, she found herself restrained by two strong hands holding back her arms.

"Just how much power to you possess?" Paradox said as he licked his lips, "It's been too long since I've even come close to meeting someone with the same power level as mine…"

Lisanna tensed up, she was scared. "W-What are you?"

"That's the question of the day, isn't it?" Paradox whispered seductively as he pulled her closer to him. Lisanna shivered as she tried to pull out of his grip.

"You will leave my student alone!" Whitney yelled as she had her gun in her hands. She took aim, closing one eye as she did, and she pulled the trigger…Only for the bullet to circle around and shoot her right in the chest. Whitney's eyes grew wide with shock, before she fell to the ground, bleeding out, rapidly.

"Ms. Whitney!" Lisanna screamed as she squirmed against Paradox's grip.

"Don't you see how much she was weighing you down? I've set you free", Paradox whispered to the girl as he smirked.

"Let me go!" She yelled as her eyes flashed a dangerous green and her body pulsed the same color. Paradox was forced to let go of the girl, he scoffed before shaking out his slightly burned hands. "Ms. Whitney! Ms. Whitney! Hold on! Just…Hold on!" She yelled in hysterics as she bent down and placed her hands over the bullet wound.

She looked around and noticed the crowd of people still staring. "Call a doctor! _Now!_" She yelled as he eyes glowed and black flames began to make a wall between her and the crowd. They all scrambled and listened to the girl with the dangerous ghost like powers.

"I could have killed her at any time, you know…She _was _just a human…" Paradox said as he walked up to the unstable girl.

"Just…human? _I will kill you_!" Lisanna yelled before turning her head to the man at an inhuman speed before glaring at him.

The man retaliated with an amused smirk, "Oh, I'm sure you will…Ta, little Lisa", Paradox said before opening up a portal with many different colors and eerie television static. The girl only glared at the retreating monster before returning her attention to her dying mentor.

**She lost something that day. **

* * *

"I can't believe we're having that gross wheat bread again!" Tucker yelled out in agony. He was walking with Danny along the sidewalk, watching the cars pass by one at a time pass them. He then leaned in closer to his best friend, "You would have thought that it was bad luck. You know, since the lunch lady basically ruined lunch that day", Tucker said in a hushed voice.

Danny rolled his eyes before sighing, "Come on, Tuck. It isn't that bad, I mean, Sam eats that stuff all the time". There were a few people on the sidewalk with cameras in their hands. After all, who wouldn't want to get a picture taken with the greatest hero of all time? Danny had literally saved the world from damnation, which earned him a ton of respect, they even constructed a monument in his name.

"I'm surprised all this publicity isn't getting to your head", Tucker said with a smirk.

"You should be talking. Isn't being the mayor of Amity Park a little bit exhausting? Not to mention the…_competition_", Danny said the last word in a whisper and a smirk on his face.

"You aren't talking about Thelma? Whatever, dude…I mean, sure, she's running against me next month…Not to mention…Pretty", Tucker mumbled and began twiddling his fingers in a nervous gesture.

Danny only looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow, as if to say, 'Told you so'. All of a sudden, he felt like he was being watched. He suddenly looked over to his left at an inhuman speed, hoping to see a person…A ghost perhaps, but there was nobody there.

"Danny?" Sam called his name from in front of him. He snapped out of his gaze and faced his girlfriend. He then shook his head, a headache was starting to form. He felt so uncomfortable, and he didn't even know why.

"Is everything alright?" Sam asked with genuine concern as she slowly put a hand on his shoulder as a sign of her caring. He then looked up at her, the headache never leaving his sensitive head.

"Yeah…Sorry. I just…" he said as he closed his eyes for a second before opening them again. "Thought I saw something…"

"Did you?" Sam asked before walking to his side and grabbing his arm. He slowly shook his head.

"No…" Danny said as he smiled softly, his blue eyes sparkling in the bright sunlight.

"Then why are you worried about it? You have other things to worry about. Like Lancer's test. I know for a fact you were too busy catching ghosts all night, so I did a quick summary on the book we were supposed to read", Sam said as she started to walk towards school, grabbing Danny in tow.

"You would think that I would get a break from all that", Danny said as he gave her a smirk.

"Even if you are a hero, you still have to go to high school", Sam said before bringing her face closer to his. She slowly grabbed his face. Her lips looked so inviting to him, it felt so right, and he smiled. This caused her to smile. Their lips almost touched, when Tucker finally broke out of his weird fantasy world.

"Gross, get a room!" Tucker said before walking ahead of them. Danny and Sam broke of their romance, but not before rolling their eyes at the immaturity of their friend.

"Come on, we really don't want to be late", Danny said as he took Sam's hand. She smiled and they began taking their time to get to school, ignoring all of the pestering paparazzi.

Then, everything seemed to stop. Well, everything except for Sam, Danny, and Tucker. Tucker looked back at Danny and Sam, before walking back to them.

"What happened?" Tucker asked as he looked around the paused Amity Park. Sam shrugged, while Danny just narrowed his eyes. This was the same presence he had just felt before he had met with Sam today.

"Clockwork?" Danny called out. However, no one answered.

"Maybe it's not him…" Sam said in suspicion.

"Oh no…This is nightmare number 34! Being the last human on the face of the planet!" Tucker yelled out in fear. He got onto his knees and started to cry. "Oh why, cruel world!"

"Tucker!" Sam yelled as she narrowed her eyes. "You aren't helping".

"Sorry…" Tucker said defensively as he stood up slowly.

"I am not Clockwork…" Came an unknown voice. It alerted everyone, and they all quickly shifted their heads to where the voice was coming from. There was a man in a black tank top. It had a thick white cross on it. He was wearing black pants, and they covered his feet. His hair was spiked so that it defied gravity, and his eyes were a blood stained red.

Danny's eyes grew wide, and he took an offensive position against the newcomer, stepping in front of his friends. "Who are you, then?"

The man looked to his right slowly, staring at something. It looked like he was communicating with the nonvisible person, as he tilted his head to the left, before raising his eyes to meet the group. "My name is of no significance. However, you hold the most significance."

Danny blinked in confusion, what was this guy talking about? He was even more confusing than Clockwork! "What do you mean?"

An unsettling wind flowed through the area as the man took a step. He had a ghostly aura to him, except the strangest thing, he didn't feel like a ghost. Danny's ghost sense didn't go off, and that stumped the young halfa. "I'm afraid I can't answer your question here…Too many…Prying ears", he said as he took another step.

"Sam and Tucker go wherever I go", Danny said defiantly.

The man raised his eyebrows in surprise before regaining his composure, "I'm sorry…but I'm not sure I follow. I wasn't talking about your…" he said as he looked at the two humans beside him, and he smiled, "Friends".

"Besides, I'm not going to go somewhere, just because someone I don't know wants me to", he said as he was ready to go ghost.

"But Phantom, you already _are_ in my realm", the man said as Amity Park began to twist and contort in front of them.

"Danny", Sam said cautiously as she took a step closer to Danny.

Amity Park began to be turned upside down, but the people stayed right side up. Soon, Amity Park began to disappear and be replaced with a throne room. There was green ghostly lit torches hung on the walls. Several chairs were placed on a leveled area. Danny and his friends gasped as they slowly took a step back.

"Where are we?" Danny demanded.

"You are in front of the ghost council, Phantom", came a dark voice. A man stepped out, he was dark skinned and wore a tight black shirt along with black pants. He was wearing a red cape and had a nicely trimmed black beard growing on his face. He had a sword attached to his hip, and Danny gulped nervously.

"There's no need to frighten the boy", the man from earlier said as he smiled gently down at his audience of teenagers. He was sitting in the highest chair, and although he was smiling, his eyes looked so sad. Like they had seen so much violence, so much loss.

"I am sorry, my king", he said as he lowered his head.

"There's no need for all that. Now, about why I have gathered you here today…Something terrible has happened…Clockwork, he has disappeared."

"_What?!_" Danny yelled in outrage, he took a step closer. "What do you mean? Where did he go?"

"We do not know. We have our people looking into it", he said as he looked down sadly. "In any case, there is another reason why I have gathered you here. There is an evil and powerful spirit known as Paradox…He creates mayhem and chaos. He unbalances the order of the time streams, causing what his names implies…Paradoxes. Things to happen that shouldn't".

"Wait, why should we help you?" Sam asked as she crossed her arms.

"Because if you don't, the world as you know it…It will cease to exist", he said with a pained expression.

"Aren't you a _king_? Why can't you stop this guy?" Tucker asked as he narrowed his eyes at the man.

"It's…complicated. For reasons I cannot say, I cannot interfere with this. This is something that Phantom has to do on his own".

"Okay, how do I beat this guy?" Danny asked as he took another step forward.

The knight stepped forward, "Have you ever heard of tarot cards?"

"Of course. They're cards that can predict the future and hold 'spiritual' power", Sam said as she smiled.

"Exactly. Spiritual power. They will come to you and test you, to see if you can truly wield them", he said as he sat on his chair, which was right next to the king's.

"Wield? How exactly is Danny supposed to defeat an evil spirit with…cards?" Tucker asked, not completely buying this farfetched story.

"They turn into a weapon", the king said as he stood. In seconds, a scythe appeared in his hands.

"What kind of weapon?" Danny asked as he looked on in amazement at the powerful looking scythe that was in front of him.

"That", he said, dismissing his weapon, "All depends on the power of your heart". He smiled gently down at the young boy, who just nodded in response.

"Then, I'll do it. I'll help you take down this guy", Danny said adamantly.

"Good to hear", the king said as he sat back down. "We'll stay in touch".

Everything started to shift and change around them, and as the group was being transported back into their dimension, Danny saw the knight look and Tucker with a worried and caring look before taking his place alongside his king. However, the one thing that bothered Danny about the knight, was that he was holding his right side, which he hadn't done the entire time they were there.

"Danny?" Sam asked as she shook him a little on one of his shoulders, to get him out of his daze.

"Huh? What?" Danny asked as he looked at Sam and Tucker.

"We just wanted to tell you that we're here for you, dude. We'll help you take this guy down", Tucker said as he smiled confidently. Sam nodded in response.

"Thanks…I just have a bad feeling…" Danny said as he started walking to Casper High.

"There's nothing for you to fear with us at your side", Sam said as she draped an arm around his shoulders. "Who else is going to keep you out of trouble?" She asked as she smirked.

"Ha ha", Danny deadpanned. They all laughed before heading off to their high school.

**He gained something that day.**

Little did they know, they were being watched by the great evil Paradox himself. "This looks like it will be _so _much _fun_", he said as he started to laugh darkly before his voice started to trail off into nothing.

**A/N: Tada! What do you think? Also, this story revolves around the concept of tarot cards. So if you don't know about them, you certainly will in this story. Paradox is a rather interesting character. He is loosely based on Vlad and Frieza (DBZ) and just a touch of Dan Phantom. Well, if you liked it, go ahead and leave a review! Or whatever. Updates happen whenever with this story. **


End file.
